A new era for a new NASCAR - Pace Lap - effects of merchandising and marketing on automobile racing

Auto Racing Digest, Oct-Nov, 2003 by Scott Plagenhoef

IT'S GOING TO TAKE STOCK CAR racing fans a long time to get used to saying "NASCAR Nextel Cup." The word, one of these seemingly interchangeable and meaningless synergy-era names, doesn't exactly roll of the tongue. For some, it may even pain them to have their beloved sport intertwined with the world of the tech markets and the New Economy. At first glance, it simply seems like a mismatched partnership--a gross error--but the more I think about it, the more it seems like a perfect fit.

Despite protestations, the sport's quaint, old-fashioned days are firmly in the rearview mirror--the high-revenue television contract signed prior to 2000 saw to that. NASCAR is big business now, for good or bad, and the Nextel deal makes sense. The series stands to make large financial gains--Nextel will pay $40 million a year in rights fees and spend another $30 million a year on promotion, compared to the $45 million a year that R.J. Reynolds was providing--but this move also stakes its ambition to become considered America's fifth major sport.

The evidence--revenues, television ratings, and merchandising--already indicates that NASCAR is one of America's most beloved and successful sports, yet the connotations that it is a regional pursuit still exist. Severing relations with the tobacco industry helps disconnect NASCAR from its small-town roots.

Tobacco Road has long been the cradle of stock car racing, but these days Wisconsin or California is as likely to produce a champion. Big Tobacco is a regional industry--and one that has been under considerable fire from lawyers and legislators. The telecommunications industry is a global one--it is literally condensing the world and obliterating regional barriers, something that NASCAR is attempting to do, as well. In the U.S., cellular phones have made "long distance" an increasingly outdated notion. NASCAR is hoping to connect every dot between Darlington and California in much the same way.

NASCAR's switch isn't a sentimental decision--Winston was so central to the sport that its initial sponsorship agreement kicked off what is known as stock car racing's modern age--but the move doesn't mean that it has to abandon its traditions or culture. Baseball has long prospered because it has adjusted to changes in the business world while still retaining its unique place in the America's cultural fabric. There is no reason to believe that stock car racing won't remain interwoven with life in the American Southeast even as it wins fans around the rest of the nation and the world.

Hopefully, the American Southeast won't suffer the ignominious insult that the NHL has inflicted on Canada, but it will have to share its wonderful sport with the rest of the country, which is waking up to the charms and thrills of NASCAR. If anything, it's incredible that this growth didn't take place sooner.